A blog can be an undeniably powerful tool for your business. When done correctly, blogging can drive traffic to your website, help your brand stand out, build authority, improve SEO, and increase conversions.
At the same time, it can be challenging to get started if you or your brand are inexperienced. If you are a doctor’s office, you must be able to answer questions such as “How often should I be posting healthcare content?”
The truth is that how often you post matters almost as much as what you post. Getting these details right will improve your blog performance significantly and help you achieve your content marketing goals.
Keep reading to learn how to answer this question for your blog, and determine just how busy you and your writer will be with your business blog.
Why Does Posting Frequency Matter?
Every blog post you publish represents an opportunity to connect with your audience. When your followers see you posting a couple of new blogs each week, they will begin to see you as a trusted source of content for your brand.
You may see increased traffic and conversions. Additionally, frequent bloggers often earn more backlinks and better site indexing from Google. If someone in your market is searching for, for instance, a new doctor or dentist, regularly updating your healthcare content would more likely promote you in the search results.
So businesses should post as much blog content as possible, right? Not quite.
Quality Matters More than Frequency
More isn’t always better. Sometimes, it’s just more. There’s a danger of producing low-quality repetitive posts. Also, blogging is more resource-intensive than people realize.
It takes time to produce a good blog, and you have to pay a talented writer to do that work. Even though bloggers who publish 16 or more times monthly see the best results overall, that may not be ideal for your business.
Content Must Be Relevant to Your Audience First
Sometimes less is better. For example, if your posting schedule is too intensive, you may end up publishing repetitive blog posts and recycling content that isn’t really worthy of it.
Additionally, while some audiences may prefer several shorter blogs each month, others will be happier with longer posts offered much more infrequently. This desire is especially true for decision-makers who like to deep dive into a topic rather than having it covered in very general terms.
Content Saturation and Engagement Are Valid Concerns
There are hundreds of millions of blogs today. It’s exciting that this content format has proven to be so effective and engaging. Unfortunately, this popularity has led to content saturation.
What is content saturation? People are bombarded with so much content that it becomes overwhelming or can be virtually ignored.
It can be difficult for a brand to cut through the noise to be seen. Posting frequently without solving this issue just adds to the clutter. This could be your problem if you post often but don’t see much engagement.
Calculating the Ideal Posting Schedule for Your Blog
Think of four posts per week as a guideline. It may be the perfect goal for your company. It could also be way too much or not nearly enough. Here are a few things to consider when you determine how often you should post:
What Are My Competitors Doing?
Competitive analysis is absolutely key here. Pay attention to the blogs your competitors are producing. How often are they posting? More importantly, how much engagement are those posts getting, and how are they ranking for their target keywords?
How Active Is My Industry?
An active industry is a niche with frequent change, many newsworthy events, and other notable activities. If this is true of your space, post more often.
This approach will allow you to get your voice out there and build thought leadership. It also keeps your audience coming to you for the latest news and information.
If your niche is a bit quieter, that doesn’t mean you should only publish once a month or so. Four posts weekly might be too much, but regular posting is still essential. You’ll just have to be creative with topics. Try focusing on questions and answers, tutorials, best practices, and brand awareness content instead of trending topics.
Finally, be aware that things can change rapidly. Your niche may be generally quiet now, but all it takes is one major event — like a pandemic — to change that. You must be able to adjust your expectations and output to offer your target audience relevant content.
What Are My Goals?
Are you trying to improve SEO, boost traffic, earn more conversions, or increase your audience? Your goals impact how often you should post. For example, traffic and SEO can be improved by frequently posting if your posts are optimized. If brand awareness is your focus, consider relevance and content diversity instead.
Do I Have Resources to Invest?
Every blog post must be researched, written, optimized, edited, and proofread. More work goes into content production than people realize. If you don’t have the people to do that, outsource to a freelance writer and editor or adust your content calendar to change your expectations.
Content Creation Tips to Boost Quality and Engagement
It’s important to post frequently enough to keep up traffic and engage with your audience. However, frequency isn’t the only thing to consider. These tips will help you to get more out of your blog no matter how often you post:
- Focus on other content formats such as videos and social media updates
- Bolster your posting frequency with guest bloggers and user-generated content
- Optimize your content with high-quality visuals
- Increase content reach by promoting blog content on your social media channels
- Build relationships with influencers and complementary brands
- Post a variety of content that is relevant to different members of your audience
If you incorporate these tips and find your posting-frequency “sweet spot,” you should see improved performance from your blog. Additionally, you’ll get better ROI from your content marketing efforts overall.